WI State Parks - Pine Woods / Mauthe Lake

Reality is that I have not done the best job at pulling out the camera lately. I'm busy living and not really thinking about photographing anything except in my own memory. It doesn't serve us well when it comes to reminding us about the parks we've visited. I'll have to work on this.

S. Kettle Moraine Pine Woods Campground

Labor Day is not usually a great weather weekend for camping so we opted to stay close to home this year. Of course that meant we had amazing weather for all but two days over the entire week's vacation. We decided to come home in the middle for the days or rain and take off for a second long weekend elsewhere.

The first part of the week we spent at Pine Woods Campground in the S. Kettle Moraine unit. This campground had large private sites and was surprisingly quiet despite it's full capacity. There was an abundance of yellow jackets and big bumble bees but they mostly stayed close to the ground and didn't bother us if we didn't bother them.  I was pleasantly surprised that they were not even hovering around the food like they do as autumn draws near. Mosquitoes were just blooming and for us ticks were not a problem but we stayed mostly on site and away from the wooded edges. Poison Ivy has always been an issue at this campground and that remained true. Not a problem if you know what you're looking for and stay away. There was a centrally located shower house that, I didn't use but my husband took our son and said the ADA shower was decent. The vault toilets near by were cleaner than we usually see but it was early season and I expect that may have had something to do with it.  I did enjoy a single owl calling out before dawn and the abundance of song birds who made themselves known at various points during the day. Unfortunately there were no visitors to our hummingbird feeders.

The second part of the week we visited Mauthe Lake in the N. Kettle Moraine area. This campground was quite swampy and while many sites were nice, they were surrounded by standing water.  We had one of the ADA sites which was shallow and too open for my liking but our time there was none-the-less enjoyable.  In fact there was a meteor shower during our time in S. Kettle Moraine that we had difficulty seeing being in such a wooded site I wished we had reversed our reservations from one campground to the other as this site would have been perfect for sky views.  Again the yellow jackets were plentiful but not bothersome. Ticks were still not a problem but again, we tend to stay away from the areas they occupy. The swampy area of the campground in N. Kettle Moraine did lead to an abundance of mosquitoes. While I really don't like chemicals and bug spray, it was absolutely necessary to apply it often or suffer the consequences.  We heard no owls at this campground but the hummingbird feeders did have a few regular visitors which made my husband happy.  Song birds were plentiful as well.  The shower room was our main bathroom. It was amazingly clean both toilet area and showers.  There were a couple ADA options but they were left open which meant that the general public utilized them first. This can sometimes be an irritant but it is what it is.  The ADA shower that was mixed in with the standard showers was utilized less than the very large ADA shower off to the side.  Be the end of the weekend that one was in need of some house keeping. It was almost always in use and that would explain why.  I just wish people would clean up after themselves. It's just not that hard to do.

N. Kettle Moraine - Mauthe Lake  from the adapted fishing pier.

Over all this was a terrific week of camping, no question one of the best Labor Day weeks in as many years as I can remember. Perhaps staying close to home is the key. Whatever it was, we're grateful for the ideal camping weather.